Hands-on Lab : Download & install Anaconda

Time efforts: 15 minutes

Objectives of exercise

Download & install Anaconda
Create Anaconda Environment for R and Python
Install and run Jupyter Notebook

Overview of Anaconda

There are several cloud-based data science tools that can make team collaboration more accessible. At times it's useful to work directly on your desktop.

Anaconda Distribution is an Open Source distribution of Python and R languages. It comes with a repository of a large number of packages for data science and machine learning, with the most popular and commonly used ones pre-installed. It includes Anaconda Navigator, a graphical interface (GUI) that contains several tools, and IDEs such as Jupyter Notebooks and R Studio. It has binaries for major platforms, including Windows, Linux, and macOS. This lab includes instructions for downloading and installing Anaconda on Windows.

Exercise 1: Download & Install Anaconda Distribution

Step 1: Use the below link to download the Anaconda distribution:

Link for Download Anaconda Distribution: https://www.anaconda.com/products/distribution

Anaconda download

Note: Depending on your Operating system, it would show the download link specific to your OS. Click the Download button to download it to your local machine.

Step 2: Once the download completes, right-click the downloaded file and run it as Administrator.

Run as admin

Step 3: At the beginning of the welcome window, you need to click Next to confirm the installation.

Confirm installation

Step 4: Agree to the license.

License Agreenent

Step 5: In the installation window, select Just me, and click Next.

Step 6: Select the folder where you would like to Install Anaconda, or retain the Default installation location and click Next.

Install location

Step 7: In the Advanced Installation Options window, select Register Anaconda3 as the default Python 3.9 option, and click Install.

Advanced Installation Options

Step 8: You need to wait for the installation to complete. Once installation completes, click Next.

Installation complete

Step 9: Click Next.

DataSpell for Anaconda availab-lity

Step 10: Click Finish to complete the installation of the Anaconda distribution.

Finish setup

Exercise 2: Create Anaconda Environment

Anaconda environment is a directory containing a specific collection of conda packages you have installed. For example, you may have one environment with NumPy 1.7 and its dependencies and another environment with NumPy 1.6 for legacy testing.

Ref: https://conda.io/projects/conda/en/latest/user-guide/concepts/environments.html

Step 1: Open the Anaconda Navigator from the Windows Start menu.

Anaconda Navigator (anaconda3) App

Navigator UI

Step 2: Create an environment using Anaconda Navigator. Go to the Environments tab and click Create (at the bottom menu as highlighted below) to create an icon on the Anaconda environment.

$Create icon on Anaconda environment$

Note: All the macOS users, select Update index and all your packages will be updated.

Note: It is always helpful to create a separate environment because different projects require different packages.

Step 3: Give a name for your environment, select the suitable version and language and click Create.

Create environment and name it

Note: The macOS users must uncheck Python and then create the environment.

Step 4: Once you create an Anaconda environment, go back to the Home Page and Launch Jupyter and create a Python Notebook (make sure to select the right environment).

Note: The macOS users need to restart their Anaconda prompt first and then launch their Jupyter Notebook.

Launch jupyter and create Python Notebook

Step 5: This opens Jupyter Notebook in the default browser, and now you can select the kernel and create a Notebook.

Select kernel and create notebook

Exercise 3: Create and execute Python Jupyter Notebook

Step 1: Create markdown cells and add text

In your notebook, click any code cell, and in the drop-down menu, change the cell type from Code to Markdown. You will notice that you cannot create Markdown cells without first creating and converting them from Code to Markdown.

Markdown cell creation

In the Markdown cell, write some text like My First Program.

To render the Markdown text, make sure the cell is selected (by clicking within it), and press Play in the menu or Shift+Enter.

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# My First Program

Your Markdown cell should now be rendered!

Output

Note: To edit your Markdown cell, double-click anywhere within the cell. Note you can use the keyboard shortcut: [m] - Convert Cell to Markdown.

Step 2: Create new cells.

In your Jupyter Notebook, click any of the existing cells to select the cell.
Click Insert Cell Above or Insert Cell Below to insert the cell from the Insert menu.

Output

Note: You can use the keyboard shortcuts: [a] - Insert a Cell Above; [b] - Insert a Cell Below.

Step 3: Write and execute code.

In your new empty notebook, click within the gray code cell and write some code, like.

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1+1

Execute the code by clicking the Play button in the menu above the notebook or pressing Shift+Enter on your notebook.
You should see the output 2.

Output

4. Rename, Shutdown kernel, and Save your Notebook

Step 1: Click Rename from the File menu to rename your notebook like My_Notebook.ipynb.

Rename and Save

Step 2: To shut down the kernel, click Shutdown from the Kernel menu.

Shutdown kernel

Step 3: Click Save Notebook or Save Notebook as to save the notebook from the File menu.

Save notebook

5. Open the recently created notebook.

Step 1: Open Anaconda Navigator from the Windows Start menu and launch Jupyter.

Launch jupyter notebook

Step 2: Go to the directory where you saved your file and click to open it.

Open closed File

Practice Exercise

Let us try executing simple math operations

Problem 1: Find the minimum and maximum values.

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x = min(5, 10, 25)
y = max(5, 10, 25)
print(x)
print(y)

Output

Problem 2: Find the value of 4 to the power 3.

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x = pow(4, 3)
print(x)

Output

Exercise 4: Create and execute R Jupyter Notebook

Select the kernel and create a Notebook.

Open R Notebook

Problem 1: Find the Multiplication of 2 numbers.

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2 * 3 # Multiplication

Output

Problem 2: Find the Subtraction of 2 numbers.

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4 - 1 # Subtraction

Output

Problem 3: Add 2 to the given number.

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a <- 1 # Assigning 1 to the variable called "a"
a + 2 # Adding 2

Output

Problem 4: Create a data frame

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df = data.frame(Emp_Name = c("Jai", "David", "Michael"),
                Job_role = c("Manager", "Team Lead", "Developer" )
               )
print(df)

Output

Congratulations! You have learned how to download and install Anaconda on your local machine and create a new environment. You have also created a Jupyter Notebook and saved it.

Author(s)

D.M.Naidu